Basic Med - Got to Love It

WDD

Final Approach
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Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
So— my Basic Med expires end of month. Went to my local Urgent Care / Walk In that also does DOT physicals. Brought the forms and $85, and I’m now good with that for another 4 years.

Wish Congress would delete need for a prior medical and 3rd class would mostly just go away.
 
So— my Basic Med expires end of month. Went to my local Urgent Care / Walk In that also does DOT physicals. Brought the forms and $85, and I’m now good with that for another 4 years.

Wish Congress would delete need for a prior medical and 3rd class would mostly just go away.
why would you need congress to delete prior medical or 3rd class ? It doesnt affect you at all. Like none, zero. . . so not sure why you would care.
 
why would you need congress to delete prior medical or 3rd class ? It doesnt affect you at all. Like none, zero. . . so not sure why you would care.
Doesn’t affect me. But I’d like to see it get even better and easier for others.

As Basic Med is a law from Congress, only Congress can change the prior FAA medical requirement stated in the law.
 
I just wish Canada accepted it. That's the biggest thing that keeps me from flying to Alaska.
Same. I just got my medical updated last week, and the international flying aspect (specifically for taking the plane to Alaska) is one of the things that encouraged me to do the 3rd class.
 
I just wish Canada accepted it. That's the biggest thing that keeps me from flying to Alaska.
The crazy thing is, Canada's Category 4 medical is basically the same thing as Basic Med. I'm not sure why they are being so stuck on not allowing what they already allow under a different name.
 
The crazy thing is, Canada's Category 4 medical is basically the same thing as Basic Med. I'm not sure why they are being so stuck on not allowing what they already allow under a different name.
Because the US refuses to accept Canada's category 4 medical.
 
Ah. In a way, the FAA doesn’t “accept” Basic Med / on board with the idea, as it took an act of Congress. If FAA doesn’t like Basic Med, they wouldn’t like a similar Canadian version.
 
IMHO, if you’re flying for Delta, I can see wanting the stricter 1st class medical to remain.

But for us weekend Cessna $100 hamburger warriors, Basic Med seems to work just fine.


Well now, it ain’t so much about being strict as it is about safety.

When you’ve got a system that punishes folks for tryin' to get healthy, and FAA who ain't actin' like doctors, ain’t following’ latest medical practices, it just don’t make sense. That ain’t the way to handle medicine, no sir.

What it oughta be is this: A doctor you trust, one who knows you well enough to put their name, and their MD, on the line for you, they say if you’re right to fly. That’s the way to get people the care they need and keep the sky safe.

The 3rd and 1st are nearly identical, the FAAs own study proved there was no safety difference between FAA medicals and Basic.
 

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Wish we could replace class 1&2 with it too
As long as we're wishing for impossible things, I've always though a class 4 medical would be great for people who are disqualified for a medical ailment (not HIMS, not psych).

The class 4 medical would require a second crew member who is also a pilot qualified for the operation being performed. It would use the risk assumption that the odds of two pilots having an incapacitation event at the same time is probably less likely than a single pilot having one - if each had a 1 in 10,000 chance, the independent odds of both are one in 100 million. If one pilot has a problem, you obviously terminate the flight.

Just have a discussion with the other pilot about their medical conditions and try not to fly with someone that has the same condition you do (example, high stress causes two heart attacks). We know old guys like to talk about ailments anyway.
 
As long as we're wishing for impossible things, I've always though a class 4 medical would be great for people who are disqualified for a medical ailment (not HIMS, not psych).

The class 4 medical would require a second crew member who is also a pilot qualified for the operation being performed. It would use the risk assumption that the odds of two pilots having an incapacitation event at the same time is probably less likely than a single pilot having one - if each had a 1 in 10,000 chance, the independent odds of both are one in 100 million. If one pilot has a problem, you obviously terminate the flight.

Just have a discussion with the other pilot about their medical conditions and try not to fly with someone that has the same condition you do (example, high stress causes two heart attacks). We know old guys like to talk about ailments anyway.
Or that your plane has an "emergency auto land" button installed, and that the button actually does something. ;)
 
The class 4 medical would require a second crew member who is also a pilot qualified for the operation being performed.

IIRC, John King was able to get his medical back with a restriction that he had to fly with another qualified pilot. Then he got Basic Med and no longer had to worry about the restriction when he wasn't using the jet.
 
Even if you're alive to push it, the GA autoland system that I know of puts you over the threshold of a nearby airport (if possible) at 5' AGL. After that, it's up to the occupants. If there's nobody who can land, it's probably off the runway.

Oh, but it's for experimental aircraft only.
 
So— my Basic Med expires end of month. Went to my local Urgent Care / Walk In that also does DOT physicals. Brought the forms and $85, and I’m now good with that for another 4 years.

Wish Congress would delete need for a prior medical and 3rd class would mostly just go away.


Yeup.... last time I had it done the RN said it was just like the DOT physicals... with a few added checks.
 
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Even if you're alive to push it, the GA autoland system that I know of puts you over the threshold of a nearby airport (if possible) at 5' AGL. After that, it's up to the occupants. If there's nobody who can land, it's probably off the runway.

Oh, but it's for experimental aircraft only.
The autoland features on the Cirrus Vision Jet and Piper M600/700 completely lands the planes and shuts off the engines.
 
Cool, that's about 1000 aircraft that can do it. It's a start
 
Guess it depends on the area. I had a heck of a time finding anyone to do basic med. Tried anyone and everyone who did DOT physicals. When I mentioned FAA they wanted nothing to do with it. Finally got my Dr to do it but took some convincing. Again had to say none of the exam forms are sent to the FAA.
 
Just tell them you want to play in the senior hockey league and need a sports physical; they probably won't look at the form.
 
Even if you're alive to push it, the GA autoland system that I know of puts you over the threshold of a nearby airport (if possible) at 5' AGL. After that, it's up to the occupants. If there's nobody who can land, it's probably off the runway.

Oh, but it's for experimental aircraft only.
The certified system that's in use on the Vision jet, TBM, Piper M-Series, and coming to several other turboprops and small jets soon, does in fact fully land the aircraft. It will land, come to a complete stop, and shut off the engine(s). Gonna have to get a tug to get off the runway though.
Cool, that's about 1000 aircraft that can do it. It's a start
The autoland first came out in 2021. I would expect that by 2035, likely before, there will be a retrofit option available, given the general timeline of how Garmin's stuff starts out on the high end and trickles down to the GA retrofit market. It'll be horrendously expensive the first few years and then get better.

It does require some hefty hardware, though. Currently, it requires the second-gen G3000 hardware, a radar altimeter (for the flare), autothrottle, wheel brake actuators, and a fuel shutoff that's basically a solenoid that pinches off the fuel line. (I have not seen this myself, but that's how it was described to me.)

I would be really surprised if the first piston aircraft to have this wasn't the SR22. I'd also be really surprised if this took longer than another couple of years to implement as factory equipment in the SR22. I'd bet you see autothrottle by #OSH26 and autoland by #OSH27 unless they decide to introduce those as part of a new "G". They're on the SR22G7 now, so maybe they'll do autothrottle on the G8 and autoland on the G9.

To get this into your average GA aircraft as a retrofit, we'll need some hefty processing power (higher-end glass), surely a Garmin autopilot, and autothrottle. We'll probably need brake actuators. We might need the radar altimeter. The fuel-line pincher will probably be optional, as you can have the screens tell the pax to pull the red knob before they go and kiss the ground. Maybe. It's possible they'll decide that the chance of someone missing that step and getting chopped by a prop is too great, but the fuel-line pincher is probably the cheapest part of the whole mess.

I would expect, as with the more expensive birds, that you'll see the autothrottle first. This will be a challenge for those of us with vernier throttle controls. :( It'll also be pretty stupidly expensive. I would guess that this will appear once Garmin comes out with whatever replaces the G500 TXi; that unit should be capable of not only driving the GFC500 system but also adding another servo and a different mode controller to add the AT button, plus an AT DISC on or very near the throttle lever. Garmin EIS will be required as well, of course.

Once the autothrottle part is tackled, it'll be on to full autoland. There was only a very short time between those systems appearing on the aforementioned aircraft, less than a year IIRC. At that point, you'll probably be able to add all of the extras provided you already bought the new hotness.

BTW, there's currently a Garmin radar altimeter that you can put on a G500 for the low, low price of $7500 plus installation. :o

I will say, it's a helluva system. Not only do you get the Big Red Button on the glareshield, there are two additional scenarios in which it activates itself: 1, you hit the LVL button after a spatial disorientation event and then do not deactivate LVL mode and return to flying the airplane for more than two minutes. 2, cabin altitude exceeds 10,000 feet and pilots don't make any inputs or respond to prompts. No matter how it's activated, it broadcasts its intentions on ATC, guard, and CTAF frequencies as appropriate, blanks out the screens and begins providing information for non-pilot passengers instructing them to buckle up and telling them where it's going to land and in how much time. Quite slick, and it will definitely help sell airplanes.
 
As long as we're wishing for impossible things, I've always though a class 4 medical would be great for people who are disqualified for a medical ailment (not HIMS, not psych).

The class 4 medical would require a second crew member who is also a pilot qualified for the operation being performed. It would use the risk assumption that the odds of two pilots having an incapacitation event at the same time is probably less likely than a single pilot having one - if each had a 1 in 10,000 chance, the independent odds of both are one in 100 million. If one pilot has a problem, you obviously terminate the flight.

You don't need a medical if you are flying with another person with one. I know of several instances where someone lost their medical, so they just found some people to fly with them as PIC. And in some cases the PIC made a few bucks (requires Comm and Class 2).
 
How about 2 people both without medicals? Let's say one is Type 1 diabetic and couldn't get one (I know it's possible, just hard) and the other has unexplained syncope.

Neither can solo, but together they make a functional crew. The odds of both of them being incapacitated at the same time could be much lower than a single healthy pilot.

Side note on my random example, ignoring that someone who cannot solo cannot get a certificate in the first place.
 
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